


Salutations!

by cinip



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, F/F, Memory Loss, Oneshot, Penny comes back AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-21 02:18:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17634140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinip/pseuds/cinip
Summary: Penny comes back, or does she really?





	Salutations!

“Who are you?”

Ruby gripped her tighter in their embrace, her hands filling with fabric as she shut her eyes, trying to hold back the tears.  _ Penny _ … After all this time, she’d thought that just maybe,  _ maybe _ , Penny could be brought back. She was made of metal, so technically it  _ could _ have been a viable possibility. But Ruby had seen that day at the festival, that wretched day where she had lost not one, but two of her closest friends, hours apart from each other. Seeing first Penny’s lifeless body split apart in person was terrifying enough, but it’s broadcast through every single monitor in the entire stadium surrounded Ruby with images she couldn’t forget, no matter what direction she looked. She didn’t even have time to say goodbye. Not to Penny, not to Pyrrha. 

Day after day, she wished she could have spent just a bit more time with them together, or gotten to the scenes a little bit faster, or done anything she could have to prevent what had happened. 

But now Penny was back? Wasn’t she? She was there before her, awkwardly holding her arms out to the side as Ruby had leapt onto her, holding her in a hug for dear life. But something felt...different.

There were so many things Ruby wanted to say to respond to her. 

_ “Oh Penny, I’m so glad you’re okay! It’s good to have you back!” _

_ “Hi, I’m Ruby Rose, your best friend and partner in crime.” _

_ “Ruby, don’t you remember me?” _

_ “Why don’t you remember me? We were best friends!” _

Of all the things Ruby could have said, her emotions dictated what she did end up saying to her. 

“I am so sorry.”

“For what?”

Ruby looked up at her friend’s big green eyes and pulled out of the hug, but left one of her hands on Penny’s shoulder. This was physically Penny, alright, there was no mistaking that. But the expression on her face and the ominous tone to her voice had let her know that otherwise, this was someone else completely. 

“You don’t remember anything at all, do you?” asked Ruby, trying to grab onto the last bit of hope that still lingered within her. Perhaps she was just a little slow at recalling things, which could be expected if her entire internal computers had to be fixed. Perhaps there was a small issue with her memory drive. Perhaps everything would be back to normal. 

Penny shook her head and Ruby felt as if she had lost Penny a second time. How could this be? Right after she had finally gotten her back? Ruby bit her bottom lip, again trying to hold back her tears, and took a deep breath in and out. On a whim, she decided to try something. She took a step back from Penny, and held out her hand. 

“Hi. I’m Ruby Rose,” said Ruby.  _ “Your former best friend.” _ she added in her mind. Penny smiled, and shook her hand vigorously. 

“Salutations! I’m Penny Polendina, but you can call me Penny. Do you want to be friends? I don’t have any at the moment, but I really want some,” she said cheerfully as she continued to shake Ruby’s hand. Ruby gave her a pained smile. She was just like the other Penny, down to the mannerisms and all. 

Maybe she could drop everything, and just tell all of it to Penny. Tell her all of the adventures and times they spent together. Tell her about how she already knows that Penny was created, not born, so she wouldn’t have to go through that again. And maybe, she would finally tell her what she meant to her. 

Or she could accept that while this looked, sounded, and felt like Penny, this was someone else entirely. She could make an effort to get to know her instead, even though all of their memories would be different. It would be tough, it would hurt, but just maybe, she could do it.

“Yeah, I’d like to be your friend,” said Ruby, a single tear dripping down her face. “I’d like that a lot.”


End file.
